The invention relates to a stand, particularly a stand for the substantially vertical erection of trunks of Christmas trees.
A known stand has long been marketed with great success by the company Krinner GmbH in the form of its Multifix Vario model. In these known stands, the housing consists of a metal base plate and a plastic cover bolted onto the base plate. This design of the housing is structurally complex and results in a considerable weight of the stand.
The object of the present invention, therefore, is creating a structurally simpler, easy- and safe-to-use stand. The one-part design of the housing and the mounting of the holding elements on the housing according to the invention represent a design which is very simple and low-cost in terms of manufacture and assembly, it being possible, on account of the dimensional stability of the one-part housing, to employ a smaller wall thickness of the housing and, consequently, to achieve a lower weight of the stand. The use of thinner-walled materials also results in the cost-effective saving of material. The continuous flowing form of the housing, made possible by the one-part design of the housing, is aesthetically more pleasing and attractive than a design involving merely functionally joined components.
The manufacturing process is made especially simple if the housing is formed from a deep-drawn metal sheet. In this case, the housing according to the invention can be formed using one single tool in one single operation and, therefore, in a very time- and cost-saving manner.
In a preferred embodiment, the Christmas-tree stand is made of an iron alloy or aluminum alloy. This provides the Christmas-tree stand with a high degree of resistance to deformations and also to impacts and applications of force (scratches) from hard objects and with a significantly longer useful life, because such materials are more resistant to weathering than, for example, plastics or wood. Furthermore, iron or aluminum alloys represent a suitable base surface for painting.
In an embodiment of the invention, the receiving region for the trunk is in the form of a pot which can in advantageous manner be deep-drawn from a metal sheet together and in one piece with the housing.